Skanda Purana — Mahesvara Khanda, Shloka 66

Devanagari script

तत्र ध्वनिर्नादमयो वर्णाश्चाकारपूर्वकाः । पदं शा वमि ति प्रोक्तं वाक्यं चेति शिवं भजेत्

Transliteration

tatra dhvanirnādamayo varṇāścākārapūrvakāḥ | padaṃ śā vami ti proktaṃ vākyaṃ ceti śivaṃ bhajet

Translation

ထိုနေရာ၌ အသံ(dhvani) သည် နာဒ(nāda) တုန်ခါသံ၏ သဘာဝဖြစ်၍ အက္ခရာတို့သည် «အ» သရဖြင့် စတင်ကြသည်။ စကားလုံးကို «śā–va–mi» ဟု သင်ကြားထားပြီး ဝါကျလည်း ထိုသို့ပင်—ဤသန့်ရှင်းသော ဝါက်၏ အဓိပ္ပါယ်ကို သိမြင်ကာ သီဝ(Śiva) ကို ပူဇော်ရမည်။

Word by Word

• तत्र: there/in that (fourfold division)
• तत्र: Adhikarana (Context/अधिकरण)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तत्र (अव्यय)
• Form: देश/प्रसङ्गवाचक-अव्यय (there/in that context)

• ध्वनिः: sound
• ध्वनिः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: ध्वनि (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• नादमयः: consisting of resonance
• नादमयः: Karta (Subject qualifier/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: नाद + मय (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन; विशेषण (ध्वनिः-विशेषण)

• वर्णाः: letters
• वर्णाः: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वर्ण (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (Connector/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• आकारपूर्वकाः: beginning with the vowel ‘ā’
• आकारपूर्वकाः: Karta (Subject qualifier/कर्ता-विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: आकार + पूर्वक (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; विशेषण (वर्णाः-विशेषण)

• पदम्: word (pada)
• पदम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पद (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• शा: “śā” (syllable)
• शा: Sambandha (Quotation element/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: शा (अव्यय/उद्धृताक्षर)
• Form: उद्धृताक्षर (quoted syllable)

• वम्: “vam” (syllable)
• वम्: Sambandha (Quotation element/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वम् (अव्यय/उद्धृताक्षर)
• Form: उद्धृताक्षर (quoted syllable)

• इति: thus
• इति: Sambandha (Quotation marker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति (अव्यय)
• Form: उद्धरण-निपात (quotative)

• प्रोक्तम्: is declared
• प्रोक्तम्: Kriya (Predicate participle/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्र + वच् (धातु) + क्त (कृदन्त)
• Form: भूतकर्मणि कृदन्त (past passive participle), नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• वाक्यम्: sentence (vākya)
• वाक्यम्: Karta (Subject/कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: वाक्य (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन

• च: and
• च: Sambandha (Connector/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय-अव्यय (conjunction)

• इति: thus
• इति: Sambandha (Quotation marker/सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति (अव्यय)
• Form: उद्धरण-निपात (quotative)

• शिवम्: Śiva
• शिवम्: Karma (Object/कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिव (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन

• भजेत्: should worship/seek
• भजेत्: Kriya (Action/क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भज् (धातु)
• Form: विधिलिङ् (Optative), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपद

Speaker

Unspecified (instructional voice)

Visual Art Cues

Scene: A meditator hears inner nāda as concentric sound-waves rising to a radiant Śiva-linga. Letters beginning with ‘a’ appear as luminous glyphs. The mantra segments ‘śā–va–mi’ are shown as three glowing syllabic beads forming a garland offered to Śiva.

Characters & Entities

• Śiva
• Nāda
• Ākāra (vowel ‘a’)

FAQs

What is the primary spiritual lesson of this shloka?

Śiva is approached through śabda: recognizing sound (nāda) and articulated speech as a sacred pathway supports Śiva-upāsanā.

Which specific holy site (Tirtha) is glorified here?

No; the verse emphasizes sonic theology (nāda/śabda) rather than a geographical māhātmya.

What ritualistic prescription is mentioned?

An implicit prescription of Śiva-bhajana/upāsanā through contemplation/recitation of structured speech, though no formal vrata is detailed.